Kindness of Strangers (Skip Langdon Mystery #6) (The Skip

Kindness of Strangers (Skip Langdon Mystery #6) (The Skip Langdon Series)

"A breathless thriller " -Los Angeles Times
A MADMAN, A COP OBSESSED, AND A WILDLY INAPPROPRIATE LOVE AFFAIRâ€¦
Kindness of Strangers is the SIXTH book in the Edgar Award-winning Skip Langdon mystery series by Julie Smith.
â€œ like a good Grisham: taut, fast, and thrilling. But with a lot more heart and soul.â€ -The Clarion-Ledger

Politics makes the strangest bedfellows of all and in New Orleans, a psychopathâ€™s running for mayor. Not just the usual harmless megalomaniacâ€”a murderer and a monster. His supporters and a good proportion of would-be voters think heâ€™s just a kindly preacher-man and handily crucify anyone who says otherwise. Enter Detective Skip Langdon, who met the Rev. Errol Jacomine on a case, finds him pretty much the personification of evil, and can point to a pile of corpses to prove it.

But Langdonâ€™s fresh out of street cred. On administrative leave after shooting someone, sheâ€™s become the Cassandra of the police departmentâ€”everything she says gets put down to paranoia. So finding the proof to discredit Jacomine becomes her obsession until he kidnaps a couple of kids she cares aboutâ€”and then it turns into a mission from hell.

Langdon has to bull her way through a hurricane to find the small army of Jacomineâ€™s thugs whoâ€™ve got 15-year-old Sheila, the closest thing she has to a niece, and Sheilaâ€™s friend, whoâ€™s having the mother of inappropriate love affairsâ€”with someone dangerously close to Jacomine.

â€œAs usual, Smith serves up a gritty, gripping story along with a big helping of action and a pinch of humor, all appropriately seasoned by the wonderfully steamy steaminess of New Orleans.â€ -Booklist

Excerpt:
Skip tried to keep it light, obediently telling war stories until her mother called them to dinner.

Ted Gilkerson, whoâ€™d now had a couple of martinis in addition to whatever heâ€™d swizzled earlier, wouldnâ€™t leave her alone. â€œItâ€™s the mayor who appoints the superintendent, right? If we had a decent mayor, we might get a decent chief.â€

â€œI like the mayor,â€ said Camille, but he bulled on ahead.

â€œOnly reason we got the kind of police we do is, the powers that be want it that way. Right, Skip?â€

â€œI donâ€™t know, Ted. I think the problems are ingrained over generations.â€

â€œGood mayor could stop â€˜em. We gotta get that asshole outta there.â€

â€œWell, since heâ€™s not running for reelection, I donâ€™t think itâ€™ll be a problem.â€

â€œThereâ€™s always a machine guy. Jacksonâ€™s it this time.â€ Jackson had been accused of taking kickbacks when he served on the city council. In fact, heâ€™d resigned over it.

â€œKnow who I like?â€ said Camille. â€œI just love Errol Jacomine. Now he talks sense.â€

Skip felt her stomach turn over.

Her mother said, â€œAt least heâ€™s not a racist. Perretti might be.â€

â€œMy man!â€ said Conrad, raising a clenched fist. Skip couldnâ€™t conceive how the two of them could be made of the same genetic material.

â€œI agree with you, honey.â€ Their father addressed himself to Camille. â€œI really think heâ€™s got something to offer.â€

Skip said, â€œI know him. Thereâ€™s something wrong with him. Heâ€™s a very, very bad man. And I donâ€™t think Perrettiâ€™s really a racist.â€ She shrugged. â€œJust another Louisiana opportunist.â€

â€œI think he believes what he says, and I think heâ€™s going to kick ass,â€ said Conrad. â€œIâ€™m voting for him.â€

â€œSweetheart, you can be so heartless sometimes,â€ said Camille. â€œJacomineâ€™s done stuff the others only talk about. Heâ€™s gotten people off drugs, heâ€™s cleaned up neighborhoods, heâ€™s worked for good candidates â€¦â€

Skip noticed everyone was nodding except Conrad. â€œIâ€™m voting for him,â€ said her father.

She was losing her appetite fast.
Country USA
Manufacturer booksBnimble
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2013-12-29
Format Kindle eBook

Kindness of Strangers (Skip Langdon Mystery #6) (The Skip Langdon Series)

"A breathless thriller " -Los Angeles Times

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Country	USA
Manufacturer	booksBnimble
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2013-12-29
Format	Kindle eBook